olnet



G. R. OLNEY.

(Model.)

GUGKOO.

No. 388,439. Patented Aug. 28, 1888.

Wb'imssas,

UNITED STATES PATENT Grrroe.

GEORGE E. OLNEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

.CUCKQO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,439, dated August 28, 1888.

Application filed March 28, 1837. Serial No. 232,813. (Modem To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. OLNEY, of St. Louis, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Ouckoos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Hy object is to provide for readilyand easily producing a clear strong cuckoo call in either a high, low, or intermediate tone; also, to ob tain either a major or a minor third without having to readjust the movable parts of the in strument.

To this end my improvement consists partly in the use of an ainexit capable of being enlarged and contracted, so that when the main air-chamber Within the instrument is enlarged to produce a lower tone or contracted to produce a higher tone the air-exit can be correspondingly enlarged or diminished, and partly in the use of both a major-third and a minorthird air-exit in addition to the main ai exit, substantially as is exhibited in the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure l is a longitudinal section of the improved instrument; and Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same, the instrument being turned at right angles to the position of Fig. 1.

Thesame letters of reference denote the same parts.

Saving as it is modified by the embodiment therein of the improvement under consideration, the instrument is of the usual description-that is, generally considered, the con struction is tubular, having a mouth piece, D, at one end, and at the other end a chromatic plunger, 13, adapted to be inserted more or less, and the main air-chamber within the instrument, and an ainpassage, H, leading from the mouth-piece and communicating with the air-chamber at the main air-exit G in the front plate, A, of the instrument. The usual scale, M, is registered upon the plungerB, the graduation upon one side of the plunger being known as the major third and upon the oppo site side as the minor third, and the pad 0 upon the inner end of the plunger serves to pack the plunger and hold it at any desired point in the main air-chamber.

The air-exit G can be enlarged and diminished in various ways, and I desire not to be restricted to any particular mode or means. I prefer the method exhibited in the drawingsnamely, the metal cap F-Which by means of the pivot K is applied to the front plate, A, and so that the cap can be turned around upward to partially cover the exit G, as shown in the full lines, Fig. 2, or downward out of the way of the opening G, as indicated by the broken lines, same figure.

The handle L is useful in operating the cap, and the pin J serves as a stop to hold the cap in its up position. i

In blowing combinations of high notes the cap F is adjusted to partially cover the exit G, as shown by the full-line position ofthe cap. In blowing combinations of low notes the cap F is adjusted to entirely uncover the exit G, as shown by the brokeirline position of the cap.

E E are openings leading into the main airchamber of the instrument, substantially as shown. One of them is known as the majorthirdand the otheras the "minor-thirdopening,and they are distinguished from each other by the major third being one-third smaller in cross sectional area than the minor third. By blowing in the mouth-piece D and closing with the linger either opening E and closing and opening the opposite opening E the familiar call of the cuckoo is produced, and either the major third or the minor third is produced.

I is a fixed wooden cap useful in forming the air-passage II, which extends from the mouthpiece to the exit G, as shown.

I claim 1. The combination, in a cuckoo, ot the mouth-piece D, having the air-passage H, the air-exit G, and the pivoted cap F, substantially as described.

2. In a cuckoo, the main air-chamber having, in addition to the mouth-piece D,the airpassage H, and the main air'exit G, the majorthird and the minor-third openings E E, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, in a cuckoo, of the mouth-piece having the air-passage H, the main air-exit G, capable of being enlarged and diminished, and the major-third and minorthird openings, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE E. OLNEY.

IVitnesses:

GEORGE F. Han), GEORGE B. SELBY. 

